This is the Zankapfel, or the Golden Apple of Discord. It sits atop of a stone polygonal table, in the eye of a maze lit by the Sun in its zenith.
It's an allegory of the novice artist in his pursue of perfection (opus formosissima) and the nature of cryptoart (omnia sol temperat). The shadow of the apple and its support lies inside the eye of the maze, and the open composition hints at the intrincacy of the paths that leads toward it: no one knows for sure how big the labyrinth is, or if there's a solution. We only see the coveted prize.